Regulatory needs, digital infra driving demand for ID verification: OnGrid

More than 500 million verifications for over 3,000 clients! Fuelled by regulatory requirements and digital transformations, the demand for identity verification and digital credentialing will grow further for background verification platform OnGrid, says its co-founder and CEO Piyush Peshwani.

Founded in 2016 by IIT Bombay graduates Piyush Peshwani and Vineet Bansal, OnGrid describes itself as the best background verification company in India that provides comprehensive and fastest employee background verification, contractors' and partners' screening. It has been clocking all-round consistent year-on-year growth in revenue, clients, and verifications processed.

"In 2024-25, we estimate the growth rate to exceed 50 per cent as compared to 2023-24, completing over 60 million verification transactions - the highest ever," Peshwani told PTI.

OnGrid, which serves industries such as retail, technology, e-commerce and shared economy platforms, helps organisations and service providers by verifying individuals and businesses through advanced identity verification, KYC (know your customer), KYB (know your business), background checks and digital credentials management. The company leverages AWS' infrastructure to ensure high availability, scalability and data security.

OnGrid is now looking to scale capabilities to serve broader, more diverse sectors, and enhance technological offerings to AI-powered behavioral assessments and advanced digital credentialing, Peshwani said. Expansion of footprint to global markets, too, is on the cards, he added.

Excerpts from the interview:  Q: What are the various offerings of OnGrid?  A: OnGrid is our flagship platform for comprehensive background verifications, trusted by businesses to verify white-collar employees, blue-collar professionals, contractors, merchants, gig workers, and loan applicants. We cater to diverse client needs with services like ID, address, education, employment, and criminal checks-forming the backbone of compliance and trusted hiring across industries.

Having completed over 500 million verifications for 3,000 plus clients, OnGrid serves industries such as retail, technology, e-commerce, BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance), healthcare, logistics, education, and shared economy platforms.

Our other offering, Gridlines, is a real-time API (application programming interface) platform that provides comprehensive verification solutions for individuals and businesses across various domains, including onboarding, underwriting, and due diligence. It enables clients to automate and streamline critical processes such as identity verification, asset verification, KYB, KYC, and due diligence, making it highly relevant for modern, tech-driven industries.

The third product is eLockr, a free platform enabling ex-employers and education institutes to issue digitally verifiable employment and education credentials, streamlining the verification process for new employers and academic entities.

Q: What is the potential market opportunity when it comes to identity verification, KYC and background checks?  A: The demand for identity verification and digital credentialing is growing rapidly, fuelled by regulatory requirements and digital transformation. The global identity verification market is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 15-20 per cent over the next five years.

In India, with its expanding digital economy and focus on compliance, the market opportunity for identity verification and background checks is worth several billion dollars annually, driven by sectors like BFSI, e-commerce, healthcare, and shared economy platforms.

At OnGrid, we address this demand with scalable, API-driven solutions for KYC, KYB, background checks, and digital credential management.

Q: What rate is OnGrid growing at? And what are your expansion plans?  A: OnGrid has been experiencing robust growth, with a consistent year-on-year increase in revenue, clients, and verifications processed. In 2024-25, we estimate the growth rate to exceed 50 per cent as compared to FY23-24, completing over 60 million verification transactions - the highest ever.

We served more than 3,000 clients across products and solutions and expanded our offerings to include 150+ APIs, including instant criminal checks, address validation, and business/ MSME verification. Looking ahead, our focus is on scaling the platform's capabilities to serve broader and more diverse sectors, including the gig economy, financial services, and emerging tech industries.

We aim to enhance our technological offerings, such as AI-powered behavioral assessments and advanced digital credentialing, while maintaining stringent data privacy and compliance standards. We're also expanding our geographic footprint to global markets and investing in strategic collaborations to drive trust and efficiency in hiring and onboarding processes.

Q: What is the Gridlines' Startup Toolkit Program all about?  A: The Gridlines' Startup Toolkit Program empowers startups with APIs for KYC, compliance, and financial data. It supports early-stage companies by offering free trials with credits up to Rs 50,000, personalised API consulting, and technical support.

Targeting fintech, gaming, edtech, e-commerce, and other tech-driven sectors, the program helps startups streamline onboarding, underwriting, and due diligence processes.

The Gridlines' Startup Toolkit Program benefits startups by providing free API credits, hands-on support, and personalized guidance to accelerate product development with minimal cost and effort. Startups can integrate APIs for KYC and KYB, and compliance without the expense and rigidity of traditional market solutions.

For instance, a fintech startup can use Gridlines' APIs to verify user identities instantly, cutting development costs and avoiding manual processes. This programme reduces go-to-market time, simplifies complex verifications, and drives innovation, making it a valuable, cost-effective solution for startups.

The Gridlines Startup Toolkit Program has received strong interest, with five leads generated so far-three from fintechs and two from gaming startups.

Q: Could you elaborate on the OnGrid-AWS partnership?  A: OnGrid has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host Gridlines, leveraging its robust infrastructure to support millions of seamless API calls daily. AWS enables effortless scalability as the platform grows, ensuring reliability and efficiency. Since the inception of the company, OnGrid has relied on AWS for its infrastructure needs. This collaboration not only strengthens OnGrid's infrastructure but also promotes the growth of India's startup ecosystem by jointly onboarding and empowering startups to scale quickly and efficiently.

Q: What infrastructure and technology drives OnGrid's operations and how are you leveraging AI?  A: OnGrid primarily leverages AWS' robust infrastructure to ensure high availability, scalability, and data security. This enables the Gridlines API platform to remain highly responsive and effectively manage surges in API requests, supporting seamless operations and growth. AWS plays a pivotal role in strengthening OnGrid's ability to deliver reliable and efficient services to its users.

OnGrid processes vast amounts of data daily, including identity verification and business validation checks. Big Data frameworks enable efficient storage, retrieval, and analysis of this data to support real-time decision-making.

We leverage AWS for high availability, a microservices architecture for modularity, and Big Data frameworks to process and analyse large volumes of real-time data efficiently. We use AI/ML for fraud detection, document OCR, and biometric verifications like face match and liveness detection. As an ISO-certified, SOC2 Type II and DPDP Act compliant, and NSR-empanelled platform, we uphold the highest standards of data security and privacy.

(This story has been produced by PTI in collaboration with Amazon Web Services).